The Buccaneers

Let's go a-roving, / a-roving across the ocean. / O, let's go a-roving, / And join the buccaneers!

The theme-tune was jaunty. They all were, for these classic children's TV shows. (Did adults ever watch them? By contrast, children and adults happily watched the American series such as "Tales of Texas Rangers" a Western that alternated modern and old stories, "Whirlybird" about a charter helicopter service, "Seahunt" about frogmen, and "Cannonball" about long-haul big-rig trucking.) The pattern for these British historical TV series had been set by "Robin Hood", starring Richard Green. "Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen. Robin Hood, Robin Hood, with his band of men. Feared by the bad, loved by the good, Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood". There were verses, about vowing to serve his king, and still having plenty of time to sing ... Chorus, repeats. Memorable.

"The Buccaneers" was great fun, as long as you ignored the serious side of piracy, law, fighting, ... But serious violence was not the issue. Zorro carved his "Zee", and occasionally pinked an opponent in a furious fencing duel. The good cowboy shot the gun out of the hand of the bad cowboy. The buccaneer with the heart of gold punched his opponents, knocked them out with a belaying pin, or tossed them overboard.

Plots were mainly about uncovering dastardly plots, righting wrongs, defending the vulnerable, and generally proving that a former pirate was really on the side of the angels.